Marketing experts study data collection and analysis, consumer behavior, supply and demand and other technical aspects of marketing theory and implementation. Small business owners without this training can still benefit from the best practices of this discipline by using basic tools and techniques to help plan marketing activities before they execute them. Review your products, prices, brand and distribution to help create better advertising, public relations and promotions that build your business.

The Four Ps

Marketing students learn about the “Four Ps” -- product, price, position and place -- and use this knowledge the rest of their careers. This technique for evaluating your selling strategy requires you to perform certain steps: examine your product to see whether it satisfies consumer demand; evaluate your price to determine whether changing it will affect your sales; create a brand that clearly positions you in the minds of consumers; and consider whether your selling locations support your brand and maximize your revenue opportunities. Selling a high-end product in big-box store, for example might damage your brand. Raising your price might increase sales because customers perceive that it must be superior to the competition.

Research

Bringing together a group of consumers to have a frank discussion of your product or service, prices, position and selling locations provides invaluable information. Ask specific yes-or-no and multiple-choice questions during a focus group session, as well as open-ended questions that let your customers volunteer information you hadn’t considered. Ask them why they buy your product, what they think of your competitors and what you can do to get them to buy more often. Hold one or two informal meetings with six to eight customers and offer refreshments and a gift for their time. Surveys are invaluable in generating data that helps you understand your customers and the marketplace. Ask open-ended discussions during phone surveys conducted by your staff or use online surveys that gather short answers or multiple-choice and true-false answers. Websites such as SurveyMonkey let you create and use free online surveys which provide data to your desktop. Whichever method you use, survey all of the participants using the same questions so you can spot trends and consistent feedback.

Repetition

Advertising doesn’t often result in a consumer stopping what they are doing to buy your product. A key tenet of successful advertising is that repetition eventually leads to sales. Consumers will buy when they have a need or impulse, and your advertising should attempt to stick in their head so that when they are ready to buy, you come to mind. Budget advertising campaigns in such a way that audiences see your ad at least three times. It might be better to advertise in two magazines three times each than to advertise in six different magazines once. You might reach more people advertising in six magazines, but you will have less of an impact on each.

Branding

Companies that create a brand, or image, in the marketplace increase consumer preference and loyalty. A brand tells consumers that your product has a specific benefit, such as quality, affordability, status or some other intrinsic value. Some footwear companies make only women’s shoes to communicate to women that the business is expert in the female footwear category. Some companies price their products higher than the industry average so they can send a message of high quality. Ask your employees and customers what your brand is -- if they can’t answer, you haven’t properly positioned yourself in your marketplace.

Social Media

Social media gets your customers to promote your products and services by recommending them to their friends. Add Facebook Like buttons to your website pages so the public can share them easily with their friends. Create a Facebook business page for a more powerful marketing tool than a personal page. Business pages let you track more data about your customers and website. Twitter allows you to send regular messages to customers and allows you to respond quickly to important events.

About the Author

Sam Ashe-Edmunds has been writing and lecturing for decades. He has worked in the corporate and nonprofit arenas as a C-Suite executive, serving on several nonprofit boards. He is an internationally traveled sport science writer and lecturer. He has been published in print publications such as Entrepreneur, Tennis, SI for Kids, Chicago Tribune, Sacramento Bee, and on websites such Smart-Healthy-Living.net, SmartyCents and Youthletic. Edmunds has a bachelor's degree in journalism.